Take to the Sky
by polynya
Summary: Hogwarts AU. Renji, Rukia, and one acid-drooling, newly fledged wyvern.


Author's note: This came out of some clowning around on Tumblr about making a RenRuki Hogwarts AU. This is just a shorty and I'm probably the last person on earth who should be writing Hogwarts AUs, but there aren't enough RenRuki AUs generally, so I'm just doing my part. I've, uh, already started a longer one, ::facepalm::

* * *

Take to the Sky

* * *

"Hey! Hey, Rukia! Guess what!"

Rukia didn't bother to look up from her task as a head with a spiky red ponytail popped in through her window.

"The wyverns have fledged?"

"THE WYVERNS HAVE FLEDGED! How did you guess?"

Weren't Gryffindors supposed to be the loud ones? The yellow-and-black tie that was, today, knotted around Renji's forehead suggested otherwise.

"For starters, you mentioned this morning that you thought it would be soon, and you're rarely wrong about these things. Secondly, we're on the thirty-third story of a tower generally considered to be unscalable, even for you, Mr. Far-Too-Much-Arms-and-Legs."

"You aren't supposed to be mixing up potions in the dorms," Renji pointed out matter-of-factly.

No, no sorting mistakes here. Renji was reliable. Strong. Trusting, to a fault. Would never rat her out, not in a million years. Not too bad to look at, either, if you were into broad shoulders and big grins and that sort of nonsense.

Some of the other Ravenclaws looked down on Rukia for associating with Hufflepuffs, but that's because they didn't appreciate the value of _field expeditions_. Or, for that matter, friends.

"Since when do you care about what we are and aren't supposed to be doing? I'm pretty sure you _aren't supposed to _be riding juvenile wyverns around school grounds, and yet, what is it I see here?"

What she saw had two wickedly clawed feet that were currently gripping her window ledge, two huge leathery wings, between which her best friend was sitting, and a mouth full of sharp, glistening teeth, each as long as her index finger.

"His name is Scout."

"Of course it is. Does he spit acid, as you suspected?"

"Uhhh, more like drools it. It's not terribly strong, only partially melted through my Quidditch gauntlet."

"Better that than your hand!"

"I dunno. Infirmary's free. Quidditch gear is expensive. And he didn't mean to, didja, boy? Who's a good wyvern? It's Scout!"

Rukia spared a glance out the window to see the two-legged dragonet wiggling happily in response to her pal's enthusiastic neck scratching. Ugh, he really was disgustingly adorable when he had some scaly monstrosity in his thrall.

"In any case, that's double good news. It means I won my bet with Ishida, _and _I get to test out this Potion of Acid Resistance. Toss me your other gauntlet."

Rukia swept her flask out of the way just as the leather glove sailed across her workbench. "Okay, cross your fingers!" She tipped the pale purple potion onto the gauntlet. There was a low-pitched whistle and a puff of smoke... and then it looked exactly the same as it always did.

Renji raised his eyebrows hopefully.

Rukia picked up the gauntlet. "Scout! Hey, boy! Fetch!" She hurled the gauntlet out the window, over Renji's shoulder.

"Wahoo!" Renji howled as Scout eagerly spun, folding his wings into a hunting stoop.

Rukia was changing out her lab goggles for her flying goggles when the wyvern reappeared at her window, lazily flapping his wings and holding out the gauntlet eagerly. Rukia retrieved it with a pair of tongs and dropped it onto her workbench with a sizzle. The leather seemed unharmed, aside from some toothmarks, despite the fact that the goo dripping from it was eating through the wood of the table.

"Success!" she announced, and proceeded to dowse her own flying gloves and cloak with the potion.

"Well, here's to science, but you gonna be ready sometime this century? Scout's ready to goooooooo!"

Rukia dumped a bucket of sand over Renji's glove, then fished it out and shook it off, examined it and tossed it back. "You really ought to let me buy you a new pair of those," she remarked, climbing up onto the window frame.

"Accepting gifts from the Seeker of my archrivals? Never!"

He grabbed her outstretched hand and hauled her onto Scout's warm, scaly back. She landed in an awkward position, sidesaddle, her face far too close to Renji's. She barely had a chance to register the cute little embarrassed face he made before he picked her up by her upper arms, turned her around, and settled her very comfortably in front of him, his legs on either side of hers, his broad back acting as a very convenient windbreak. She liked that he never made her ride pillion; she'd never be able to see a thing.

"Here," she said, passing him the last of the Acid-Proofing Potion. "Get your other glove and your cloak."

"Aw, that first glove was just an accident," Renji said encouragingly to his wyvern while he shook out the last dregs of the potion. "Scout would never drool on me on purpose, wouldja, boy?"

Scout made a blood-curdling yodel.

Renji leaned forward, getting a good grip on the place where the wyvern's wing joined onto its back with one hand, and wrapping his other arm around Rukia's midsection. What kind of lunatic rode a newly fledged wyvern _bareback _, anyway, let alone _one-handed _?

"Where d'you want to go?" his voice dropped into her ear.

"_Everywhere_," Rukia replied.

They shot into the sky.


End file.
